Maleficent: Mistress of Evil release brought forward by seven months

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The 'Maleficent' sequel has been brought forward by seven months and will be called 'Mistress of Evil'.

The follow-up to the live-action Sleeping Beauty villain spin-off will now hit cinemas in October 2019, rather than at the end of May 2020, as initially scheduled and the Disney film's official title has been announced as 'Maleficent: Mistress of Evil'.

The sequel, helmed by Joachim Rønning, will pick up several years after 'Maleficent' and audiences will learn of the events that hardened the heart of Disney's most notorious villain and drove her to curse a baby Princess Aurora.

Angelina Jolie will be reprising her role as the titular dark fairy while Elle Fanning, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple, and Lesley Manville will all reprise their roles in the upcoming sequel, and Michelle Pfeiffer, Ed Skrein and Harris Dickinson are part of the cast.

The upcoming movie will also see Angelina, 43, reunite with her 'Salt' co-star Chiwetel Ejiofor who insisted we has "thrilled" to join the cast of the highly-anticipated movie.

Speaking of the film, Chiwetel ,41, previously said: "It was great to work with Angelina then and I was really thrilled to join 'Maleficent'. The re-imagining of fairy tales and how they impact us and what they mean for us is really strong and I think this sort of expands this whole universe."

Angelina previously revealed she relished starring in 'Maleficent' in 2014 as the antagonist because it was a less serious role than she'd grown used to.

The Academy Award-winning actress said at the time: "It's such a great project that I imagine I would have always considered it [at any time in my career]. After having directed and thinking that I wasn't sure if I wanted to act, it wasn't returning to act in anything normal. It was a crazy idea, and I was so challenged by it."